Space Station Visible All Night Thursday—How to See It
In a once-a-year sky show, the International Space Station can be seen Thursday night with the naked eye multiple times from select locations.
From its orbit about 280 miles (450 kilometers) above Earth's surface, the ISS takes just 90 minutes to make a full circle around the planet.
The space station isn't always visible at night when it passes overhead, because it spends about 30 percent of its time cloaked by Earth's shadow. (See a picture of a solar eclipse as viewed from the ISS.)
But once a year the high-flying facility's orbit closely parallels what's known as the day-night terminator, the zone of perpetual twilight on the border between Earth's dayside and nightside. (See a day-night terminator animation.)
When it's in the zone, the ISS can be seen
